


i'm tired of being cautious

by austen



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Awesome Ladies Ficathon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-23
Updated: 2010-06-23
Packaged: 2017-10-10 06:05:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/96417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/austen/pseuds/austen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She counts her days to the end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i'm tired of being cautious

**Author's Note:**

> Written for hateable in the Awesome Ladies Ficathon. Prompt was "Angel; Fred Burkle; oh, my heart never sleeps".

She counts her days to the end.

-

Even before Pylea, she is lost in endless pages of numbers scribbled down and printed alike, in coffee rings left by the mug she accidentally leaves on her notes, in the rows of books dusty and unused and similarly forgotten about.

She is lost a long time before she actually goes missing.

-

Angel is the hero she never quite pictured from the storybooks Momma used to read to her. He's equal parts noble and frightening, handsome haunted eyes and dead cold heart. He's both a man and not quite, not exactly. There is no formula to narrow him down, no equation that can be used to solve him.

In the cave, she sees his true face, and despite her reservations, she begins to fall.

-

There is a moment - nothing that can be explained by theory, though she has already developed a hypothesis on the _why_ \- when Angel leaves her room, the door stays open behind him, and she puts down the marker. She picks up the paint brush and the roller, and each stroke brings her out of the dark.

On that day, Winifred Burkle finds herself again.

-

Another day comes, years later, when the darkness seeps in again, and she takes one look at Wesley's worn features and _knows_ there is no probable solution. Her hand looks pale, weak and unfamiliar clasped in his. With every rasping, labored breath, another little part of her disappears.

She closes her eyes, and fades away.


End file.
